The present invention is directed to a path between a pair of fibers in an optical fiber transmission system. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a path that allows Optical Time-Domain Reflectometry ("OTDR") measurements of an optical fiber transmission system that includes repeaters and optical isolators.
An OTDR is a fiber-optic measurement instrument. An OTDR operates by sending a probe signal down a fiber and monitoring the small fraction of the light scattered or reflected back to it. The reflected light can be used to determine if there is a fault in the fiber.
A typical long range optical transmission system includes a pair of unidirectional optical fibers. An optical signal attenuates over long distances. Therefore, the optical fibers typically include multiple repeaters spaced apart. The repeaters include optical amplifiers that amplify incoming attenuated optical signals. The repeaters also include an optical isolator that limits the propagation of the optical signal to a single direction.
A typical long range optical transmission system requires a technique for determining the location of faults along the transmission path using only equipment located at the ends of the transmission system. Two techniques are in common use: loopback and OTDR.
The loopback technique operates by placing a coupling in the repeater so that a portion of the signal from one direction is coupled into the opposite direction. The return signal is then analyzed by equipment at the end of the transmission system to detect the magnitude of the returns from each of the repeaters.
It is known that modifications to a transmission system are required to permit the OTDR technique. This is due to the unidirectional behavior of the optical isolator that eliminates the scattered and reflected light in the return direction. To make use of the OTDR, the paired transmission line is used to carry the returned light. A coupling is provided in each repeater to accomplish this.
FIG. 1 illustrates a known arrangement that is used to implement the coupling required by both the loopback and OTDR techniques. The segment of an optical transmission system in FIG. 1 includes fibers 10, 12 on which the optical signals travel in the direction indicated by the arrows. Multiple repeaters are disposed along the fibers 10, 12. Two such repeaters 14, 16 are shown in FIG. 1. Repeaters are typically spaced 30 to 120 km apart.
Repeater 14, which is typical of all of the repeaters along the fibers 10, 12, is shown in detail in FIG. 1. Repeater 14 includes optical amplifiers 17, 18 which amplify the optical signal along the transmission line. Typical optical amplifiers are constructed with an erbium doped fiber that is pumped by a laser source. Optical isolators 21, 25 are required in long transmission spans to eliminate backwards propagating light and to eliminate multiple path interference.
The coupler arrangement shown inside repeater 14 provides the path required for both fault location techniques. These paths are implemented with couplers 30, 40, 50 and 60. This coupler arrangement provides loopback and OTDR paths for both optical fibers 10 and 12.
Transmission on optical fiber 10 can be used as an example. The signal follows the loopback path through couplers 30, 50 and 60 on the following fibers: 31-34-53-51-63-62. The looped back signal then travels along with the data on transmission path 12. Typically the looped back signal is attenuated by about 45 dB relative to the signal present on fiber 31.
The coupler arrangement also implements a path for use by the OTDR. Signals generated by reflection or scattering between repeaters 14 and 16 enter coupler 30 on fiber 32. The signal follows the following fibers: 32-33-41-42-52-51-63-62. The signal then travels along with the data on transmission path 12. Typically the OTDR signal is attenuated by about 20 dB relative the signal present on fiber 32.
Similar paths are taken by signals traveling on optical fiber 12.
Amplification schemes other than that shown in FIG. 1 have recently been developed. These systems use remote amplifiers that do not require electrical power. An example of such a system is illustrated in FIG. 2 in which amplifiers 76, 79, 83, 86 are disposed on the transmission paths 90, 91 between two repeaters 70, 72. The power for the amplifiers 76, 79, 83, 86 is delivered optically either through the use of dedicated pump fibers 75, 80 or through a portion of the transmission paths 91, 90. Isolators 66, 77, 78, 68, 69, 81, 82, 67 are required to eliminate backwards propagating light and to eliminate multiple path interference. Unfortunately, these isolators eliminate the reflections caused in transmission fibers 58, 84, 91, 59, 85, 90. This makes the OTDR technique for fault location impossible. Further it is undesirable to place an entire coupler arrangement, including couplers 30, 40, 50, 60 shown in FIG. 1 at the location of the remote amplifiers because using a mechanical housing of sufficient size to accommodate all four couplers is expensive and undesirable.